Making Up
by SSBFreak
Summary: All alone in the diner, Stinky contemplates how she treated a certain pair of detectives before a certain rabbit enters. Slight Max x Stinky, because Max is...Well...Max


It was just after lunch for a local diner on the corner of a street in the city. The customers of the diner had just left after eating, leaving tips on their tables before heading out the door. Once the customers left, the diner had become completely empty save for one worker, whom was currently cleaning up and collecting the tips.

The aqua-haired young woman scrubbed a stain off of one of the tables after picking the money left behind for her off of it. Placing the tip into one of the pockets on her fish-tail apron, she wiped the table off before continuing on.

"My. Lunches are getting busier." Stinky said with a slight laugh. "I actually served ten people."

Even with ten customers, it was still more people than Stinky had seen come in for lunch. That meant that the diner was starting to get popular again. Before, the only ones Stinky saw come in were the other residents of the street the diner was on. Stinky had to admit that they were a strange bunch, but still loyal customers. There was that private investigator whom enjoyed 'interrogation', the animated head of an Abe Lincoln statue, the woman whom fell in love with him (Stinky still thought that concept creeped her out), a family of three rats and a pair of unusual detectives. The other resident of the street, that paranoid store owner, was always too afraid to set foot in the diner, so he never really showed up (not that Stinky really minded. Bosco often scared her a bit).

Stinky paused as her mind lingered back to the two detectives. What were their names again? Maurice and Lucas? Harold and Theodore? Stinky always greeted them with what she thought were their names, but they always corrected her, and even still, Stinky couldn't get their names right. Looking back at everything those two had done to save the city, Stinky couldn't help but feel bad that she couldn't remember their names.

"I probably rubbed off on those two the wrong way…" Stinky sighed as she sat down at one of the booths. "I probably came off as some snob that didn't care to remember their names."

Stinky placed her fingers to the temples of her head as she strained to remember the detectives' names. She knew for a fact that she said them once, and that was because she was extremely thankful for them saving her life.

"There…There was a zombie hand holding me hostage…The detectives were undead…" Stinky said. "The dog tricked the hand into getting stuck in tar cake…I thanked them…"

"…_You saved me, Zombie Sam and Zombie Max! My heroes!..."_

Stinky's eyes widened. "That's it! Sam and Max!" She said before falling back in her seat in relief. "How could I forget names so simple?"

While Stinky had to admit that she didn't really think much about the dog and rabbit duo, she knew that her respect and admiration for them grew intensely when they saved her. And now that they had saved the city (apparently for the second time; Stinky wasn't around for the first 

time…), Stinky figured that the two deserved more respect from her. She told herself to at least remember their names from now on.

Suddenly, the door opened, causing the bell above it to ring. Stinky looked up and saw a white rabbit-like creature strolling into the diner alone.

"Oh! Hello…Uh…Max." Stinky greeted, cursing herself for already almost forgetting Max's name.

Max's black eyes widened in surprise. "Hey! You got my name right!" He said.

"Well, I've been trying to improve my memory and remember your names from now on." Stinky replied as she got up and walked behind the counter. "What can I get you?"

Max looked up, read the menu and smiled brightly. "Howzabout a Sloppy Dan?" He asked hopefully.

"Sure thing." Stinky nodded. "You're in luck. The meat's fresh."

"Goody!"

"So where's Sam? You guys are always together." Stinky asked as she started preparing Max's sandwich.

"Sam? Ah, he and Flint Paper went to interrogate a suspect." Max shrugged.

"And he didn't take you?" Stinky asked in surprise. "You seem like the type that enjoys interrogations."

"Sam said that he wanted the suspect to talk; not die." Max replied casually. "Honestly, that guy's no fun anymore."

"Well, being a police officer doesn't mean you have to cause death and destruction wherever you go." Stinky reminded.

"It doesn't?" The surprised Max asked.

"I think I know why you're the 'doer' and Sam's the 'thinker'." Stinky chuckled as she continued to prepare Max's lunch. "I take it Sybil and Abe are still on their honeymoon?" She asked.

"Yeah. They should be back before too long, though." The rabbit-like creature said. "I'm still confused at how they'd work out…I mean, she's a human and he's…Well…"

"The animated, giant, floating head of a statue?" Stinky replied, earning a nod from Max. "Yeah. The concept of those two being together still weirds me out."

"You're not alone, sister." Max pointed out. "Every time I think about how they could possibly work, my head hurts. And believe me, it takes a LOT to give me a headache."

"I can imagine." Stinky laughed as she finished making Max's sandwich and gave it to her customer. "There you go."

"Thanks, Stinky." Max said as he pulled some money from the area where his pockets would be if he was wearing clothes and handed it to the woman.

"How do you have pockets if you don't wear clothes, anyway?" Stinky asked as she accepted the money.

"That's my little secret." Max replied with a smirk. He was about to start eating when he realized something. "You're seemingly awfully talkative today, Stinky."

Stinky sighed. "Before you came in, I was thinking about how little respect I gave you boys when we first met." She replied. "I didn't even memorize your names."

"Well, to be fair, a lot of people forget our names." Max shrugged as he took a bite of his sandwich. "Then again, that's mainly because Sam and I beat them in the head for about twenty minutes."

"Well, I just figured that I'd try to get to know you two a little better from now on to make up for how I've acted." Stinky said. "Like, how long have you and Sam known each other?"

"Oh, all of our lives!" Max said. "In fact, we came to this diner all the time when we were kids when your grandfather was the only one working here." Swallowing another bite of sandwich, he continued. "We decided to become freelance police together and we've been solving crimes and busting heads ever since."

"When did you get your permit to become police?"

Max paused. "We needed a permit?" He asked.

This time it was Stinky whom paused. "Forget it." She said. "What I mean is how long have you been solving cases?"

"For a while. Mainly crimes done in this city here." Max nodded. "But one of our cases had us travel all over America to stop Conroy Bumpus."

Stinky raised an eyebrow. "Conroy Bumpus? I've heard of him. What ever happened to him?" She asked.

"He and that servant of his got frozen in a block of ice and are now on display at the circus as a four-armed sasquatch."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." Stinky shrugged. "I always figured his obsession with fame would be his undoing." Looking down at Max, she gave an amused smile. "So that's all you guys do? Solve cases? Sounds like a boring life."

"You kidding?! I've been having a fun life!" Max insisted. "You don't know fun until you've bashed in a few bad guy heads!"

"You really think that's fun?"

"We should bring you along on one of our cases sometime." Max said.

"I'll pass, thanks."

"Your loss."

Stinky paused for a second, then sighed. "Max, another reason I'm talking so much is because I feel bad that I still haven't thanked you properly." She said.

"Thanked me?" Max asked. "For what?"

"Remember when you guys saved me from that zombie hand with the gun?"

Max laughed. "Aw, that was nothing!" He insisted. "We needed the hand for something anyway."

"But the point is that you guys saved me." Stinky said. "I just wanted to thank you for doing it."

Max was surprised. No one had honestly ever given him a heartfelt thanks for doing something. This was mainly because the last time Sam and Max had done something to save the city, everyone started acting like Max, and the white rabbit-creature was forced to (well, not forced; he did it willingly) punch everyone's lights out to get them to return to normal (not a lot of people spoke to Max for a while…). And now Stinky was thanking Max for something he and Sam had done months ago that even HE had almost forgotten about. This incident was obviously stuck in the poor woman's mind and it would most likely stay there for many years to come.

"Well…No problem, Stinky." Max assured, flashing a thumbs-up. "Just doing our job."

"I know, but after the ordeal, I realized how close I had come to getting shot." Stinky replied. "Just let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

"I'll keep that in mind, Stinky." Max nodded as he got up. "Hey, I'd better get back. I promised Sam I'd watch the phone until he got back, but I don't know what he's talking about. It still hasn't moved."

"Uh…He meant…" Stinky said before pausing. "You know what? Never mind. Thanks for talking to me, Max."

"Hey, no sweat." Max assured. "Stop by anytime you need someone to talk to, sister."

"Thanks for the invitation, Max."

Max got on the floor, but paused and turned around. "Hey, Stinky? You doing anything Saturday night?" He asked.

"I've got the day off then, so no." Stinky shook her head. "Why?"

"Well, there's a sweet concert playing in town then and it's not the type of music Sam likes." Max replied. "I've got two tickets, so do you wanna come?"

Stinky stood in thought for a few seconds before smiling. "I'd like that, Max." She said.

"Awesome!" Max said. "You know what? You're a pretty good gal, Stinky."

"Thanks, Max. You're a lot nicer than some people say you are."

Max jumped on top of the counter and grabbed Stinky's shoulders, pulling her in and giving her a huge kiss, surprising the woman. Breaking the kiss, Max jumped off the counter again.

"See you later, Stinky!" Max said as he went towards the door. "Thanks for lunch!"

Stinky lightly waved to max as he left, a stunned look still on her face. After Max had gone, Stinky slowly felt her lips before forming a smile.

"I always DID take a fancy towards the wild ones." Stinky said to herself as she went back to work.

END


End file.
